Central African Republic - Executive brief 24 June 2014

The events in the Central African Republic over the last 18 months have left more than 2.5 million people in need of humanitarian assistance and have displaced one out of five people (around 536 500 IDPs out of a total population of 4.6 million).

Localised security incidents continue to be reported, including several attacks on trucks transporting humanitarian aid; events during the beginning of June in Bangui and Bambari led to a delay of ten days in the delivery of agricultural kits. However, the majority of farmers across the country are engaged in planting activities. To meet their needs, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) is committed to provide appropriate assistance within its funding capacity.

About 70 793 households (88 percent out of the initial target of 80 000) have already received FAO crop seeds and tools. FAO has established strategic partnerships with 17 national and international NGOs to implement the distribution plan in rural areas. Each family is receiving 25 kg of crop seeds and two hoes to plant in time and produce at least 500 kg of groundnuts, maize and rice that will contribute to feed them for about four months. As the seed distribution demand has been constantly increasing by identified farming families willing to plant, the FAO target has now been revised to over 88 156 households to be reached by the end of June.

While the main planting season finishes at the end of June, FAO has received additional funding for the July short cycle agricultural season to support an additional 30 000 households.

The Integrated Phase Classification (IPC) carried out in late April 2014 indicates that 45 percent of the rural population (1.7 million people) is food insecure and has been classified in Crisis (26 percent) and Emergency (19 percent) Phases.

FAO has also secured additional support from donors to reinforce the resilience of an another 50 000 households, who are mostly members of women’s associations, to help them build up their financial capacities, agriculture techniques and social protection to improve food and nutrition security.